AMERICAN VIEW OF PACT

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 92, 15 October 1940, Page 9

AMERICAN VIEW OF PACT

PRESIDENT'S SPEECH DIGESTED

FAILURE OP THREAT

LONDON, October 14

Some Japanese newspapers comment today on President Roosevelt's broadcast. One of them, evidently taking its cue from the Foreign Minister, Mr. Matsuoka, expresses amazement that the United States should regard the Axis-Japan pact as being hostile to the United States. It evidently expects the United States Government to accept without question Japanese, German, and Italian statements that the pact is not directed against America.

Reuters says that the broadcast has attracted widespread attention in Japan because it is the first official expression of American views of the JapanAxis pact, and also because of its announcement that the United States Government intends to continue its help to Great Britain and China. Mr. Matsuoka's interpretation of the pact, namely, that it is intended to show China the futility of further resistance and to benefit the United States, is commented upon today by the London "Times" in a leading article.

"The Times" says that, as it stands, Mr. Matsuoka's unexpected consideration for humanity in general and the United States in particular may be not more than a warning couched in polite phrases, but "The Times" thinks a better interpretation of his words is that he has seen that the triple pact has irritated the American Government and people instead of making them afraid. That reflection may have convinced him that the entry of the wealthiest and potentially the strongest of the Powers into the fray would certainly be a calamity for the nations arrayed against the great republic.

"The Times" refers to the acute anxiety of the Japanese people about this risk and thinks that the treaty has left a most unpleasant impression in America and Britain which will not be easily effaced by Mr. Matsuoka's unconvincing explanation of the benign motives which directed its signature.

If it was intended to frighten General Chiang Kai-shek and his Government into submission, it has already failed, and if it was designed to frighten America its failure has been even more disastrous.